Odd Sword

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

For all readers I would like to quote a remarkable piece from wikipedia which underpins the almost impossible task (unless your rubic cube reassembly time is under 25 seconds) of unscrambling these sword inscriptions...

I QUOTE "The Pernik sword
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia~

The Pernik sword is a medieval double-edged iron sword unearthed in the ruins of the medieval fortress of Krakra near Pernik, western Bulgaria, on 1 January 1921. It bears an inscription in silver inlay on the blade.

The sword is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum of Bulgaria in Sofia under inventory number 2044. The sword is 96 centimetres (38 in) in length and up to 4.5 cm (1.8 in) in width.

The inscription, written in the Latin alphabet, was long considered incomprehensible. It reads as follows:

“ +IHININIhVILPIDHINIhVILPN+ ”

Two decipherments have been proposed. One view, expressed in the original archaeological publication about the sword, has been that the text represents a series of Latin abbreviations of sacred formulae that were intended to bring good fortune, as found on other swords from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Following the transcriptions proposed by other authors for similar letter sequences, one Bulgarian author suggested a tentative reading of the Pernik inscription along the lines of "IH(ESUS). IN I(HESUS) N(OMINE). IH(ESUS) VI(RGO). L(AUS) P(ATRIS) I(HESUS) D(OMINI) H(RISTUS). IN IH(ESUS) VI(RGO). L(AUS) P(ATRIS) N(OSTRIS)",

that is to say "Jesus -- in Jesus' name -- Jesus, the Virgin -- praise of the Father, Jesus, the Lord, Christ -- in Jesus, the Virgin - praise of Our Father" (the de-abbreviated words have not been consistently declined).

To put this into perspective, it may be observed that on other swords, the common formula in nomine domini, "in the Lord's name" was abbreviated in ways ranging from the unmistakable NNOMNEDMN to the heavily distorted NINOMINED, OIEDOMINI, INNIOINNEDINI, etc.

Longer inscriptions could be incoherent and contracted to the point of complete opacity, for example INPMPNC I(n) n(omine) p(atris) M(ater) p(atris) n(ostri) C(hristi), "In the name of the Father. Mother of Our Father Christ" or IINBITTPINI I(esus). I(n) n(omine) b(eati) I(esu). T(rinitas). T(rinitas). P(atris) I(esu) n(omine) I(n), "Jesus -- in the name of the blessed Jesus -- Trinity -- Trinity -- Of the Father -- of Jesus -- the name -- in".

A more recent attempt at decipherment, dating from 2005, suggested that the inscription was in an early West Germanic language (Austro-Bavarian or Lombardic of ca. the 6th to 8th century). The proposed parsing is "IH INI NI hVIL PIDH, INI hVIL PN", meaning "I do not await eternity, I am eternity", or literally "I inside not time wait, inside time am" (hvil being cognate to English while and German Weile). If the parsing is plausible or at least the identification of the written language is correct, the text is of great importance to the history of Germanic languages". UNQUOTE.

I might add~"Whilst somewhat bewildering to Ethnographic Sword enthusiasts" !!

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Notes; See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pernik_sword

[fernando]

Wouldn't the Bulgarian author's suggestion be all but a linear approach ? or otherwise being based on strong evidence or scholarship reasoning ... .
The popular (that not born) name of Jesus, a term Latinized from the Greek, doesn't feature the H after the I.
Unless we consider its translation to archaic english, which i am afraid would make it a longer shot in this situation.
Also the allusion to his virginity wasn't currently called upon inscriptions, instead, that of Mary, as we all know to be mentioned in countless situations.
But then again, he must have his reasons

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by fernando

Wouldn't the Bulgarian author's suggestion be all but a linear approach ? or otherwise being based on strong evidence or scholarship reasoning ... .
The popular (that not born) name of Jesus, a term Latinized from the Greek, doesn't feature the H after the I.
Unless we consider its translation to archaic english, which i am afraid would make it a longer shot in this situation.
Also the allusion to his virginity wasn't currently called upon inscriptions, instead, that of Mary, as we all know to be mentioned in countless situations.
But then again, he must have his reasons

Yes that may be your take on it..and I would not argue with that...but... as the passage indicates that "the de abbreviated words have not been consistently declined" moreover I think it is what it doesn't say which is relevant and quite beyond me, that is, ...To even get close to this often secretive meaning ones armoury should contain a host of certificates not least a degree in Latin and Greek as well as Hebrew,OCS, Old Bulgarian, Cyrillic and on top of that a highly specialized understanding of Biblical Studies ... The specialty benefiting from Bulgarian Runic inscriptions as well as Taliaman symbols and secret texts etc.

It is simply not enough to be grounded in a few Latin phrases and sayings as it is literally clouded in short initials and secrecy... and at the end of the day it may be uncrackable!!

It is as complex a subject as Talismanic signs thus this is indeed the Rubic Cube of Ethnographic Weapons study...and I have to say it is a bridge somewhat beyond my ability.

I also do not think it wholly central to the thread as I see it...since the essence of what we are looking at is swords of a certain origin not of the country of manufacture but assuming the cloak of originality knitted by a master of disguises...and although I am very intrigued by the Pommel and Talismans described earlier, I am not so concerned now with the blade or what is upon it. Naturally others may take this on if they have a few hours to spare !! though it is a real monster ! It is hardly surprising that there are few documents available on the subject.

Thank you very much for showing some of the complexities of this puzzling subject.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[fernando]

I think i should come back to lettering issue, even if i am in part correcting my previous consideration.
My idea is that, the contents of what i have learnt may be useful for collectors general knowledge.
Having consulted some of my old books in Portuguese armoury (Viterbo 1907-1908), i foccused on the the way the name of Jesus Christ and document dating were practised in the XVI century, when Kings issued letters of previlege to armoury smiths.
I can not type the way these were done, as current keyboards do not have such characters, as also the fonts used by Viterbo printers in 1907 may also be a bit distorced.
This way i show parts in the book where Jesus Christ "initials" are mentioned, as well as a genuine print that comes in a "reformulation of the Rules of the Order of Christ" (ex-Templars), published in 1503.
In both cases the letter H has a place but, above all, it is interesting to know how these symbols may appear in weapons ... and not only.
Also the type of dating is most interesting as, being Roman numeration, is rather different than that used nowadays. I phoned the experts in Torre do Tombo (National Archives) and they told me that, in that early period, Roman numeration had a difftent 'convention' ... which i, for one, was not aware of.
I also upload here a couple examples contained in such letters of previlege so that, if these figures show up in old (Portuguese) swords, won't be a complete surprise.

.

[Ian]

Fernando, that is really very interesting. Thanks for your work on this.

Ian

[Andreas]

How interesting! I have never seen this particular style of numbering and dating before, I think it must be an exclusively Portuguese practice?
Andreas

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Andreas

How interesting! I have never seen this particular style of numbering and dating before, I think it must be an exclusively Portuguese practice?
Andreas

Ah, silly me ... i could have asked .
But i was so surprised by having an expert from the National Archives answering my direct questions that i dared not be boring.
Will try and find out with some intensive (so it seems) browsing in the Portuguese web.

But at least ...
I asked her if that was an internal practice of the Torre do Tombo (National Archives) and she no; documents are revealed as they original were.

And not only these numbers were used for dating but also to quantify things, as seen, for one, in the vast inventory of the Arsenal of Tanger, taken in 1568, where listed items, like crossbows, helmets, cannons and so, were accounted with such numeration.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Ian

Fernando, that is really very interesting. Thanks for your work on this.

Ian